Read part 1 of the “How to Understand Google Analytics Reports” series here.

Your Google Analytics report contains great information about visitors to your website that can assist in optimizing your site for the end-user. Let’s jump straight in. If you downloaded the Google Analytics Sample Report, we’re looking at page 3, titled “Visitors Overview”.

Again, the report includes a line graph to visualize the visitor breakdown by day and a contrasting color comparison to the previous month. It’s very similar to the line graph on page 1.

Below this graph is the breakdown of visitors to the site with a comparison to the previous month. Much of this information is duplicated from the previous 2 pages, but I want to make a point about absolute unique visitors.

We defined “visits” in part 1 of this series, but the next statistic down is “absolute unique visitors”. Here’s the meaning of the term, as defined by Google:

Unique Visitors represents the number of unduplicated (counted only once) visitors to your website over the course of a specified time period. A Unique Visitor is determined using cookies.

This represents, possibly more accurately, the number of devices that have accessed your device, rather than the actual number of people. It can be assumed that a single individual will access the same sites from a work computer as they would a home computer or mobile device. Each of these devices is registered as an “absolute unique visitor” according to Google’s definition.

Below this absolute unique visitors statistic is a summary of the usage of your site, most of which was outlined in Part 1 of this series.

Next down the line is the Technical Profile section. This is where you’ll find numbers about the internet browsers and connection speeds being used to access your site. This information is important because if most of your users are using Internet Explorer to access your website (and I suspect they are), you’ll need to test the website using Internet Explorer for compatibility and display issues. The connection speed can also have an impact on the end-user’s experience of your website. If most users are on a dial-up connection, a flash-intensive or graphics-heavy website is not going to offer a good user experience, and will likely cause your bounce rate to decrease.

The Traffic Sources Overview section of the report provides information about how people find your website. Google defines traffic sources in three ways:

1. Direct traffic – the visitor has typed your website address into the address bar of their browser.
2. Referring sites – the visitor clicked on a link from a third-party website to access yours.
3. Search engines – the visitor searched for a certain term or terms and found your website in the results.

The report even includes a nice little pie chart to visualize this data.

Below this visualization on the left side are the numbers for the most popular traffic sources for your site. Depending on how you want people to find your website, these numbers are helpful for optimizing the website’s performance on search engines or advertising platforms. If your only form of marketing is handing out business cards with the web address, then direct traffic may be your top source. On the other hand, if your website is real estate, you’ll probably want great results with search engines.

Speaking of search engines, the right side column of pages 5 and 6 are the search terms visitors have used to search and find your website. This information is helpful in determining if people are actually finding what they are searching for when they arrive at your website. For example, let’s say you own Pisa Pizza, an online retailer that sells pizza kits. The keywords you want to see in this list are “Pisa Pizza”, “pizza”, and “pizza kit”. If people aren’t finding your website through these search terms, it’s time to improve your website’s search engine optimization.

That’s it for part 2 of “How to Understand Google Analytics”. Part 3 will come later this week.

If you are using Google Apps for your business or organization, you’ll want to be aware that Google is enabling a new addressing structure called IPV6 [wiki] on their websites tomorrow, Wednesday, June 8. There is some potential for problems, but most people will be okay. Below is the message I received from Google. I’ve added bold to one particular sentence that allows you to test your system now.

Dear Google Apps administrator,

On June 8th, 2011 — World IPv6 Day (http://worldipv6day.org/) — major web companies, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, will enable IPv6 on many of their websites for 24 hours to test how IPv6 performs in the real world.  That day, we’ll be using IPv6 (http://worldipv6day.org/faq/index.html) for Google Apps, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites.

More than 99.9% of people shouldn’t have any problems during this industry-wide test, but your experience on June 8th will depend on your computer and network configuration.
- If you only have IPv4, you’ll simply use IPv4 as usual and not see any test-related problems.
- If your configuration is ready for IPv6, you’ll automatically use IPv6 and not see any test-related problems.
- In rare cases if you have IPv6 enabled but not configured properly, you may have connectivity issues with Google Apps and other test sites on June 8th.

If you’d like to start checking your organization’s IPv6 preparedness before June 8th, you can instruct your users to visitipv6test.google.com from the devices where they access Google Apps, like primary work machines, tablet devices and home computers. If you discover IPv6 connectivity problems, you can find troubleshooting tips and more information here:http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=8995&answer=1299266

If you are having a major issue related to this from now until the end of June 8th, 2011 and need to contact us about IPv6, please submit your inquiry here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGx2UnV1RTdEY25HSlJ4VGQ2QW9jM2c6MQ.  We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you,
The Google Apps Team

You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Apps account.

This spring, I made the switch from the Apple iPhone to an Android phone (Motorola Atrix). It’s been a good great move for me. I’m a huge fan of Google’s products – I use GMail, Docs, Calendar, Search, Picasa, Chrome, Reader and lots of other Google products on a daily basis. I also use Google Apps for my own business and for many of my clients.

Before I made the switch, though, I carefully made a list of the iPhone apps I used the most. Then I cross-referenced to make sure an equivalent or an alternative was available for Android. The only app that came up short was Scrabble, but by that time many of my friends were talking about Words With Friends, so that was fine with me.

As you’ll see in the list below, I use my phone for much more than playing Scrabble – it’s an essential part of my business toolkit. Here are the apps I recommend:

• ACS Church Life (church membership database)
• Amazon.com
• Bible (LifeChurch.tv)
• Battery Indicator
• Cloud Print (Connects with Google Chrome’s Cloud Print Service)
• Dropbox (I can’t recommend this one strongly enough)
• Evernote
• Expensify
• Facebook
• Flash Player
• Foursquare
• GMail
• GoDaddy.com Mobile Domains
• Google Books
• Google Docs
• Google Maps (the navigation feature of this software is AMAZING)
• Google Reader
• Google Voice (only useful if you have a Google Voice account – get one here)
• Grocery IQ
• HootSuite (hands down the best Twitter client I’ve used mobile or desktop)
• Kindle
• Mint.com Personal Finance
• NPR Podcasts
• PayPal
• RunKeeper
• Skype
• SwiftKey Keyboard (I’m just starting to use this one, based on the recommendation of 13,000 reviewers)
• Vlingo Virtual Assistant (The more I use this app, the more I like it. The newest version for Android 2.2 and higher has an InCar mode that will read email and text messages to you, all the while listening for your voice commands. This app will see more and more screen time from me.)
• Webroot Mobile Security Basic
• Words With Friends

And there you have it, that’s a list of the apps I use regularly and will recommend to any Android user.

The original article appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Cityview Magazine. The version here is complete with links and a little more information than was in the original.

The convergence of technology, media in particular, is effecting the way people worldwide do business, socialize, gather information, make connections, and draw conclusions.

Watch this video, then ask yourself: How do I use these tools connect with those around me?

Description from YouTube:

This is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visithttp://mediaconvergence.economist.com and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.

Credits:

Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Music by DoKashiteru, “Home Tonight.” Design and development by XPLANE, http://www.xplane.com.You can follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/xplane

Finding a trustworthy place to get your computer repaired can be a difficult thing to do. Some shops want to keep your computer for weeks at a time, cutting down on your productivity. Others have you wait in a long line just to drop off the computer. It can be a frustrating experience just to talk with someone about your ailing computer.

There is a better solution. Allyte Technology Solutions repairs computers in Knoxville and Maryville, Tennessee. We provide friendly, personal, cost-effective computer service at your location. On-site service allows us to ensure the computer works properly and eliminates the hassle of dealing with messy cables and wires.

Call Allyte Technology Solutions for in-home or in-office computer service. You won’t be disappointed.

Leaving your computer and its data with a service or repair center can be a little nerve-racking. Your data – email, pictures, music, documents, spreadsheets, presentations – are all contained on this computer and you don’t want it to be vulnerable.

Some service centers will wipe a hard drive clean without thinking twice. When your computer returns to you, it has returned completely to factory settings. A side note – there are some good services available for home and office data backup. They do cost on the front end, but save a ton of time, trouble, and possibly money in the event you need your data restored.

In other cases, the customer may arrive to pickup the computer, only to find exorbitant fees are due for the service. It would have been better to replace the laptop than pay the fees for repair.

To prevent situations like this, there are some key questions you should ask before leaving your computer for repair.

1. Will you backup my data before doing work that could compromise it?
2. What is the fee for doing a backup for me?
3. Will I receive a copy of my data if you wipe the hard drive clean?
4. What are the estimated charges for this repair? Can I get that in writing?
5. If the charges are significantly more than you estimate, will you let me know before doing the work?

This set of questions is a good place to start when getting service on a laptop or desktop computer. Depending on your service request, you may want to ask more questions.

For good data backup solutions, look at Dropbox, Cobian Backup, ElephantDrive, JungleDisk, Carbonite, and Mozy.

For good computer repair and service, look no further than Allyte Technology Solutions.

This week is All Church Camp in rural Helena, Arkansas. On the agenda this week is teaching a group of 12 teens how to develop a website using WordPress. A few pictures have been posted on Twitter – via @robmcbryde and @brandon_moore.

Here are the websites they’ve been building:

Home Away From Home Bed & Breakfast

JLST’s Bar & Grill

JJ’TD Jewelry

Today the new iOS4 is released for Apples iPhone and iPad. This is a free upgrade. I love free stuff. There are some great new features you should know about in this update.

Here are just a few:

• Multitasking
• Folders
• Improved Email
• iBooks

If you’re ready to update to iOS4, be sure to use iTunes to backup your iPhone/iPod/iPad first. Then check for updates. When the update is available, iTunes will let you know and walk you through the process. I was able to upgrade a little early, thanks to these instructions from Jason Powell.

An excellent walkthrough of the features of iOS4 is in the video below.